The present invention deals with axle devices as used in vehicles with individual wheel suspension. The forces acting on the wheels have to be supported in all degrees of freedom. This generally takes place firstly via chassis links which can possibly be provided with active adjustment elements, for example for the steering. Secondly, the forces acting on the wheels are supported via spring-damper units. This serves for increasing comfort, safety and stability. The spring-damper unit can either be designed coaxially, or spring and damper are separated from each other. The individual links serve to predetermine a defined relative movement between the wheel carrier and the body during the inward deflection and during the outward deflection of the wheel. If the spring or the damper is supported on a chassis link, the force introduction point in the case of what are referred to as rod-type links, which each have only one connection point to the body and to the wheel carrier, has to lie on the connecting line between the connection points since said links—unlike triangular or trapezoidal links—cannot support any moments. If spring and damper are supported separately on a rod-type link, this leads to a disadvantage in terms of construction space since both elements have to lie on the line of action of the rod-type link and cannot be arranged offset with respect to the line of action.
It is disadvantageous in the case of the known solutions that, when the spring unit is separated from the damper unit, a relatively large amount of space is necessary in order to arrange same in the region of the axle device and especially to connect them in a force-transmitting manner to a corresponding supporting link. For improved behavior of the spring unit and of the damper unit and therefore for increased safety or improved comfort during movement of the vehicle, the spring unit and the damper unit are customarily arranged offset in the transverse direction of the vehicle. However, this leads to the axle device requiring an increased amount of space in said transverse direction in comparison to combined spring-damper units. In particular, if a luggage compartment or further fixtures, such as, for example, battery devices or electric drive motors, are intended to be installed between two wheel carriers, this increased space requirement of the axle device leads to reduced space possibilities between the wheel carriers or to an increased width of the vehicle.